Hopefully they can revive that at some point. I'm particularly bummed that they had to cancel the acoustic tour since I think that would have been a more unique live experience unlike their regular tour setlist. As long as we're getting new material (and it is of acceptable quality) then I support them moving on with a new singer, and everyone knows touring is the way bands make money these days so I'm fine with them playing a few new tunes amidst the hits. I get the complaints about the current live situation being mostly a cash grab given their consistent greatest hits setlists, but I do appreciate the new music that's being put out so I don't think I can firmly place them in the nostalgia cash-in bucket. I'm curious if the people not happy with the current STP situation would prefer that the band not have resumed operating with a new singer and would have preferred they left the STP legacy to be only the Scott era.
A little more support for the non-Scott/non-STP projects might have resulted in them doing something different now. I firmly believe that they'd much rather go in a different direction given their multiple attempts to do so, but they've been penned in and left no other options. I find it somewhat ironic that the same fans that trash anything they do that isn't like Scott are also the first to complain that they've gone in a direction that is like Scott, their decision is entirely predictable and understandable given the feedback they've continuously gotten. If fans trashed all the other options, which were all objectively solid singers and performers in their own right, then clearly the only takeaway from that is that fans won't accept them playing with anyone except for Scott or someone that sounds like Scott, and since Scott isn't an option they had to find someone who can sing like him. I think everyone needs to consider the backlash that the DeLeos got from the fans when trying to do a project with anyone other than Scott (Talk Show, AoA, Chester), and to view their decision in hiring Jeff through that lens. If that bugs you, I think you’re 100% barking up the wrong tree and what you would want, would be markedly worse in comparison to what we have. As far as the singing goes, well I’ll actively fight you on that because I believe you HAVE TO have a singer who can sing like Scott a bit to sing those older songs well. Scott is irreplaceable of course but Jeff Gutt is a solid singer and if he’s going to pay homage to the eras of STP in which Scott was still the singer, then I’d say it makes sense to move like him a bit and everything. It was not a healthy union, at many points. It is unfortunate how they treated Scott but I’ve never been one to really pick a dog in that race because the band and Scott both treated each other horribly at different times. I see shades of them aping that image but it’s really minor things in the grand scheme of things, particularly with Jeff. Honestly, I don’t think it’s ever bothered me as much as it clearly does you.